Dinner at the Malfoys'
by Princess Rosamunde
Summary: Her friends christened her the "snarky one". Lyra always seemed to know exactly how to push people's buttons. Particularly her family's. Especially her grandfather's.


Lyra loved baiting people.

She was so fond of doing it that her friends christened her the "snarky one".

In fact, she was known to begin dinner conversations that way.

One in particular comes to mind...

The six of them- Nanna, Lucius, Mummy, Daddy, Scorpius, and her- were seated around the elegant, mahogany table where they ate every meal when she and Scorpius were home. Lyra was just barely eleven, her birthday was in October, and Scorpius was fifteen and a half; the two were home for the Christmas holidays. Libra, the family's main house-elf, had just served the first course, and scuttled back to the kitchens. Lyra twirled her spoon in her bowl of steaming, green leek soup and coyly kept her eyes down. Her brother knew that look. He blew on his own, extremely hot soup, hoping it would cool quickly, so he'd get something out of this fight that was sure to ensue.

"And how was your day, Scorpius?" Lucius asked, having received a suitable answer from his wife, son, and daughter-in-law. Startled, Scorpius tore his gaze away from his conniving sister.

"Me? I spent the majority of the day playing Quidditch with Flora and Anderson." Lucius nodded his approval. This was a fitting way for Scorpius to be spending part of his summer, it was a suitable use of Scorpius' time. While he personally felt that Quidditch was not an appropriate sport and activity for girls to take part in, Flora and Veronika Nott were not his granddaughters, so he did not diverge into a long discussion about proper activities for well-brought up females. Lyra thanked her lucky stars for this.

"Lyra? Lyra, your day?" Lucius demanded impatiently.

"Oh, you were talking to me." Lyra blinked, innocently. "I spent the day with Veronika."

Lucius shook his head. Sometimes, his granddaughter could be so stubborn. "Lyra, please be more descriptive."

"Well." Lyra's eyes looked suddenly catlike and sly. "We talked mostly. About a variety of things. Hogwarts gossip, girl stuff. You wouldn't be interested, I assure you. But." Lyra paused for dramatic emphasis. Astoria nodded encouragingly at her daughter. "Go on, Lyra, darling. We're listening."

"Weeeelllll..." Lyra drew the word out, relishing the feeling of being in control. "Did you know Veronika's middle name is Helena? She's named for her paternal grandmother. So, then she asked for mine. Cassiopeia, of course. It's a rather unusual name, isn't it?"

Astoria smoothed the creases out of the napkin on her lap. "I suppose it is unusual. But then again, so are Lyra and Scorpius. Your father and I-" Astoria took Draco's hand in hers. "-followed your grandmother's family naming pattern. Stars and constellations."

Lyra had let her mother speak even though she already knew all of this, because she wanted to let the suspense build up. "Right. Veronika thought so, too. In fact, between the two of us we could only think of one other person with the middle name 'Cassiopeia'."

"Well, don't leave us in suspense, Lyra dear. Who is it?" Lyra's Nanna, an aging woman called Narcissa, put in.

And then, Scorpius knew what Lyra was up to. Being that he was friends with Rose Weasley and Albus Potter, something that his grandfather still had not accepted despite that it had already been five years, he knew exactly where she was going with this.

"_Maura_. Maura Cassiopeia Potter, youngest daughter of-" Lyra faltered and seemed that she couldn't bring herself to speak the name. It didn't matter though, because they all knew who she meant.

All hell broke loose. This was not a phrase used lightly of course, because this was the Malfoy home, not the ancestral home- Malfoy Manor-, which had been sold in an attempt to erase the bad memories that had occurred there. But wherever the Malfoys were, whether it was Malfoy Manor or Malfoy House, regardless, intrigue and drama followed all six members of the immediate Malfoy family.

"_He_ named his daughter Cassiopeia!" Lucius roared from across the table. He slammed his hand on the table, upsetting and spilling his soup and Narcissa's. Plates crashed off the table and smashed.

Libra, reappearing from the kitchens, was dismayed and saddened to see all the good food going to waste.

"Mistress," Libra exclaimed in horror, "Your dress! Libra is so sorry." Libra summoned a napkin with elvish magic and set about wiping soup and other food off of Narcissa's dress. After a pointed look from Astoria, who had made it quite clear her views on the enslavement of house-elves, Narcissa gently pushed Libra's hands off her.

"Libra," she said, "That won't be necessary, thank you." Libra's large orange eyes filled with tears and her ears wilted as she clung to the soggy, filthy rag.

"Has Libra offended Mistress? Libra will punish herself." Libra seized the side of Scorpius' chair, where he was rapidly attempting to consume his soup before his grandfather threw it to the floor, and brought her head _smack!_ across the chair leg.

"No!" Astoria cried, and sensing the reason for his wife's discomfort, Draco tugged Libra's spindly arms off the chair.

"Children," Narcissa was beside them. "I think it would be best if you left now." Scorpius and Lyra stood up, their chairs scraping the floor. Lyra slipped her hand into Scorpius' as the two made their way out of the dining room. Lyra liked the sound her feet made on the cold marble of the passageway.

"Scorp, do you hate me?" Lyra asked, letting her hand go.

Scorpius blinked his bright grey eyes at his baby sister. "Oh, Lyrie." He sighed. "Of course not."

Lyra beamed with every fiber of her being. "Oh, good."

Lyra's Daddy came to tuck her in and put her to bed. He peered down at the little girl, his daughter with the blonde hair so like his. Draco stood to get up and leave the room, then stopped, and sat down on the bed.

"Goodnight Lyra." Lyra's hair spread like thistledown all over her pillow. She grinned up at him.

"Goodnight, Daddy."

"Lyra," he said. "You've got a vicious streak." He flicked off the light.

"I know." She closed her eyes.

From outside her bedroom door, she heard him say, "Even if it does make dinner interesting." He chuckled.

Lyra breathed a deep sigh. All was right with the world. She could go to sleep now.


End file.
